One of the arguments for renting instead of buying is the fact that you don’t have to pay for repairs and maintenance.
Unexpected home expenses is one reason why many in the personal finance space recommend homeowners have an extra-healthy emergency fund. “Small” unexpected expenses of $100-$300 can add up quick, and big expenses of $1,000+ can be tough to manage if they come out of nowhere.
Home expenses wouldn’t be terrible if there wasn’t a hundred other demands on our money. The cost of healthcare keeps rising, and with HSAs becoming commonplace consumers are on the hook for potentially thousands of dollars before their health insurance kicks in. Pets can get sick and result in a big vet bill. And for those with kids I don’t even need to mention how much of a bite kids can take out of your finances.
The purpose of this post is to list out potential unexpected home expenses to make them a bit more real. It’s easy for people to say homes are expensive without giving examples, but when you can picture what these costs actually are it can become more real.
I’m not trying to convince people to not buy a house. If anything I hope to motivate people to save a bigger emergency fund so they can deal with unexpected home expenses rationally. There is a clear difference between facing an unexpected $2,000 house repair with money in an emergency fund versus having no cash reserve to cover it.
I bought a fixer-upper seven years ago and I’ve learned a lot from the experience. My biggest regret was not having more cash in the bank when my wife and I bought our house. Not only did we face a number of unexpected expenses that I will mention throughout this list, but we also had a lot of renovations we wanted to do. Having cash in the bank would have taken away some of our stress in those first few years, and helped us stay calm as we faced never-ending home expenses.
Let’s dive into examples of unexpected home expenses to plan for. Some will argue that not all of these are “unexpected” because they are routine maintenance. While that may be true, people aren’t thinking about their homes 24/7 so even routine maintenance can come out of nowhere, especially if something is broken and you have no choice but to fix or replace immediately.
Roof
Roofs can last a long time, but they don’t last forever. Replacing even a small roof will run in the thousands. Another thing to think about is potential damage from snow and ice. Ice dams can cause serious issues.
Garage Door
The first year in our home the coils on our garage door snapped. Replacing them was a few hundred dollars, partially because we have a heavy garage door and partially because it was on the weekend. Garage doors can work for decades without issues, but there are a lot of components that can break and stop working.
Water Damage
Another fun story from my first year of home-ownership. We had a heavy rainstorm and the city’s storm drain was overwhelmed, pushing the water out to smaller drains throughout the city. Our basement had a foot of water outside the basement walkout, and water slowly was pouring into our basement. Thankfully we were home for this and could address it right away, but this happens to many people each year when they are away from their home, leaving serious damage. Even worse is water damage that happens behind the walls, sight unseen, since you don’t even realize it’s happening.
Water damage can be a minor inconvenience or cost you thousands of dollars in repairs, especially if mold is part of the issue. Sometimes there isn’t much you can do, but proactive things include installing drain tile and a sump pump in your basement, not putting carpet in your basement (tile and rugs are the way to go), and making sure your landscaping pushes water away from your home.
Structural Issues
A coworker of mine bought a house and started working on renovating the basement. When he pulled panels off one of the walls a gigantic crack became visible. Usually cracks aren’t a big issue, but this was a massive one. After consulting an engineer the solution was using a massive and expensive brace system to stabilize the house.
Thankfully he and his wife were able to recover the $15k-$20k bill from the previous owners for not disclosing the issue. This is an extreme example, but smaller structural issues can come up from things like termite damage and rotting wood.
Washer & Dryer
Pretty simple example – washer and dryers break! We had an older washer and dryer that I have done a couple minor repairs on, but eventually we had a problem that would have cost a couple hundred minimum to diagnose and repair so we opted for buying new ones. If you have a gas dryer you will need a professional to do the installation, which will run you at least a hundred dollars. You’ll have to decide whether you want to foot a couple grand for fancy new models (we did and don’t regret it) or get cheaper alternatives.
Sewer Drain-Out
Every house has a drain that goes from their house to the main sewer line. Some of these lines are made of clay. These lines can collapse. As you can imagine, it can be expensive to replace a collapsed sewer line because it oftentimes requires digging up a yard, street, and/or sidewalk.
This happened to us, again in our first year of home-ownership (we have good luck). Our first quote was over $7,000, and came from Roto Rooter. The repair person was high pressure and told me not to contact the city about it since there was almost zero chance it was their fault. I hired another plumber through Angie’s List who not only would have done the repair for $3,000 or less, he also consulted with the city and found one of their contractors made an illegal repair four years ago when a water main broke. This story is why I swear by Angie’s List and why I always advocate for getting multiple quotes on home repairs.
HVAC
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Heating units break. Air conditioners break. Water heaters break. All these things cost money to repair and replace.
I have two friends with homes in the same cities as me who bought houses with improper ventilation in their basements. This is an issue because if the basements are finished or semi-finished, as they are in these houses, the only way to fix the issue is to rip out the ceiling and install the appropriate ducts. This typically is not something at the top of a new homeowners mind, but is just another example of an unexpected expense.
Work that involves hiring people in the trades such as HVAC specialists, electricians, and plumbers, isn’t cheap. There is a labor shortage and despite the potential for high pay, most young people would prefer a desk job. My point here is you should plan on spending at least a couple hundred dollars just to have someone in the trades come out to your house, and then expect potentially more costs for supplies and additional labor needed to fix your issue.
Driveway
The actual cost for installing a new driveway or replacing an old one is usually in the thousands of dollars. Our driveway is in rough shape and I didn’t take action as early as I should have. One way to delay the installation of a new driveway is to use cold patch to fill in potholes and then seal coat the driveway each year. I didn’t seal coat the first five years we had our house and I wish I had. It adds thickness to the driveway and will help prolong having to install an expensive new driveway, which I’m convinced would add little to no value to a house when you sell it.
I recommend going the DIY route for seal coating. It’s a messy job but it’s cheaper and it seems like more and more seal coating companies are pushing people to install brand new driveways. While that advice technically isn’t always “wrong,” from a personal finance standpoint I just don’t see the value.
Cement Work
You may have a cement slab in the back of your house, or even a cement driveway. Most people have some cement work around their house, and it can be expensive to replace for obvious reasons: it’s difficult to remove without machinery and it typically takes a cement truck and skilled labor to install.
Wasps, Rodents, and other Pests
We’ve had some wasps nests in our yard, and like most issues that require a professional to come out it has always been a couple hundred dollars for treatment and removal. Mice are an issue for many homes and the best way to fix the problem long-term is to find where they are coming in, which is easier said than done.
Kitchen Appliances
Similar to a washer and dryer, kitchen appliances can break and need repairing or replacing. High-end appliances are great, but this is where cheaper appliances win out. When your stove only costs $400 it’s easier to foot the bill versus needing a $1,000 replacement. Appliances can last a long time, but they eventually do break.
Plumbing and Electrical
Plumbing issues are more commonplace than electrical, but both can come up unexpectedly. One example of ours was replacing an old bathroom drain. To remove a bathroom drain you sometimes have to get a “key” that goes into the drain and unscrew it that way. Well…after multiple people tried to crank the drain loose we unfortunately had to call a plumber who torched it out. As expected, having a plumber come out can cost you a couple hundred dollars even for a simple issue.
The nice thing about plumbing and electrical is some things can be done yourself. You may not be able to install new shut-off valves yourself, but you likely can replace a toilet or sink yourself. Electrical work you obviously have to be very careful with, but with the proper precautions and training it’s not unreasonable for a homeowner to replace light switches and outlets. For anything even moderately complex, though, you will need an electrician. The reason why is because you want the work up-to-code and you want to protect yourself from dangerous situations.
Tree Trimming
I grew up in a newer development, so when I bought my first house in a neighborhood with mature trees I wasn’t quite ready for the thousands of dollars that tree trimming could run. The good thing about tree trimming is it isn’t typically absolutely necessary, and is more personal preference of whether the cost is worth it. With that being said there will be some situations where a tree or trees will become so overgrown you have no choice but to pay a professional.
This is not an exhaustive list (unfortunately!), but you get the point: as a homeowner the sooner you build an emergency fund, and the bigger you can build an emergency fund, the better.
Related: How Switching Banks Made Us an Extra $500+ a Year
Check out some of our favorite personal finance resources:
Are you getting the best credit card rewards? Check out the top cash back credit card offers (updated daily)
Make extra money: 15 ways to make money from your computer
Get the First Chapter Free!
Join our online community and get the first chapter of the book Student Loan Solution absolutely FREE!
What you write is true about renting but being on rent don’t ensure that homeowners is agree to do works for unexpected repairs….so good compromise is always good for example some months ago I needed to replace water meter and I climbed cost of it from rent, but I must to say that my landlord is good other friends cannot say the same